Owls, Drug Free, Writing, OH MY!

This past week has been a whirlwind.  In one week I've squeezed in lots of content.  I'm going to use my pictures to tell the story instead of my words...

Doubles, Near Doubles (sorry, forgot to update photo), and Doubles Rap. 

Freebie here.

I found an image on pinterest that inspired me to chart my facts and led to a phenomenal lesson using race cards to switch our addends.  The chart originates from The Good Life. You can see the pin here.

Whooo is in the Family {Fact Families}

This idea originated from pinterest.  Unfortunately, the link was broken.  See the image here.  It's truly been a HOOT walking into the classroom each day!  If you have any idea who originated the idea, leave a link in the comments!

Still looking for an activity for Red Ribbon Week?  Link here.

 

Loving my sweet girls and our weekly class meeting outside!

I used Owlbert since we are learning about owls.  As mentioned on Instagram by a teacher follower, this could be used with Stone Soup too!  The kids created recipes for their own books and put it in a cauldron. 

We broke the narratives down into six lessons.  Lesson 1: Begin Story Map.  Introduced Characters, Setting, and a possible Problem.  Work time consisted of Illustrations only.  Lesson 2: Complete Story Map.  Work time consisted of illustrations on what happens first, next, last.  During the first two days, I strive for detailed illustrations with labels.  Lesson 3: Introduction.  I modeled the introduction (topic sentence) with a class story.  Work time consisted of students writing a sentence that includes the character, setting, and possible problem.  Lesson 4, 5, and 6 were how to write strong sentences featuring different craft (time cue words, onomatopoeia, etc) for each event. Day 7 is our conferencing day where kids share and fix (if needed) before we publish!

I filed away our narratives and hung our opinions! 

Our lessons are broken down similar to how I taught narrative.  We began with sticky notes so that we can organize our reasons correctly.  Each piece of the story is broken into different days. 

I love writer's workshop and blessed that my kids do too!  My class absorbs everything I teach!  I featured three papers in the narrative genre first.  The same kids are featured in the same order for the opinion papers.  And below are the same three kids and their papers from Kindergarten.  #1 reason I love looping is the ability to analyze our old work and try to push beyond previous expectations!

I'm so sorry for the delay but finally loaded both Kindergarten and 1st Grade Homework.

Due to the shorten months and holidays, I combined the homework for November and December.  The calendars still include a full month of content for both November and December.  I plan to have my kids work optionally on the weeks we are on break.  So often, I have parents request work for the weeks off.  You can decide how you wish to use the file! Link by clicking each image above.

I found this gem at Target in the picture frames.  I'm displaying a visual writing rubric in the pockets but I can see so many wonderful uses! Can you?

Owls and Proper Nouns {Units and a Freebie}

This week is packed full of fun.  I wanted to stop in and share a few files I plan to complete this week...

We've been working on nouns, nouns, nouns...

We began our learning using The Teacher Wife's amazing All About Nouns Pack!  It's packed full of information about nouns.  I began our lessons this past Monday with a Brainpopjr Video on Nouns.  It's free!  Then I printed Lindsey's Noun Posters four to a page so that they were small to glue in columns on my chart paper.  After watching the video, we brainstormed a list of nouns for each category.  In groups, students worked collaboratively on the Noun Sort Activity from this pack!

The following day, we watched Schoolhouse Rocks video on nouns to activate schema. During our "we do" the kids helped to add words to a noun book found in Lindsey's pack.  In cooperative groups, the students played noun land.  This game was a HUGE hit!

This week we are moving into proper nouns.  I plan to begin our learning with several videos this week.  One video is brought to you by Time4Writing entitled Common vs Proper Nouns.  The other video is brought to you by LearningVids4Kids entitles Common vs Proper Nouns.  To reinforce the concept, I created an All About Me {Proper Nouns} freebie.  

In addition to my file, I'm going to use Lindsey's Noun Hero Activity with proper nouns.  Kids will brainstorm a list of proper nouns and record the word they wish to use.  This activity is similar to Mad Libs.  The kids will later transfer their words into a premade narrative about a noun hero.  I can't wait to see the kids expression when the activity is complete!

This week we are continuing our learning on community property, missing addends, and fact families.  Since we are beginning our unit on owls, I decided to create a fun activity/center to align with the standards.  I first found a pin from Diane from Teach With Me for Owl Shapes.  It's adorable and free so check it out!  I decided to adapt her activity to meet my needs for fact families and created this...

 If you are still looking for additional fun activities, I have a little file I shared last week entitled Little Owl's Night {Book Companion}.  The image will take you to my blog post with the book recommendation found on youtube and images of the activities in the pack!

I hope you have a fantastic week!

Text Features {Freebie Lessons and Journals}

Oh my, it's been a big week of Non Fiction Text Features!  The kids really took their learning serious.  Drawing on our previous lessons (a two week theme unit on bats) in kindergarten, we gathered a few familiar text for the week so that our content focus wasn't bats rather text features.  This will make diving into a two week theme unit on owls next week so much more rich!

I created a little file in which my kids used this week to explore text features.  This journal has remained on hand in their reading resource folder and pulled during literacy centers.

 The pages above were created this week using the fabulous Ginger Snaps' Mini Text Features Cards {freebie}.

So what will you find in my freebie?  A week of lessons from book elements, fiction/non-fiction, to text features.  Each lesson is created with gradual release in mind.  

It's possible one or more lessons could take more than a day.  I begin with an introduction. The intro is where I share the standard, objective, and essential question.  My goal is to guide the focus for readers.  Also included in the introduction is a short video to activate schema and engage the student.  

The steps between I Do and You Do are where you'll judge the pace in which the lesson will take with your own class.  The closing is completed each day!

Also included are the journal pages like the ones shown above.  I divided the journals into different lessons and content focus points.

I sure hope you find the freebie useful!

Little Owl's Night {Book Companion}

With October mid way through, I've been thinking about OWLS!  My next thematic unit will be two weeks of owls.  I'm over the moon with the possibilities.  

I just completed a book companion for Little Owl's Night.  This story is precious!  Take a look at the book trailer...

I scooped up the book at the scholastic sale last year.  The illustrations are dynamic!  You will be captivated immediately.  The book targets PreK through 1st.  I found a video online with the story being read...




I'm working on an order for Owl Pellets from Owl Brand Discover Kits.  They have a fantastic discover guide which gives so many magnificent facts available online for free.  Click image below to link.

My book companion is 44 pages of support for the story and owls.  Take a peek at what is inside the file...

You can click the first image to link to my store.  This file was just added to the flash sale!  I found a few wonderful files today on TpT for owls.  I plan on combining my unit with Loreen Leedy, Deanna Jump, and Anna Digilio's Units!  With my TpT points, sale, and promo code, I was able to get all units for under $8.

Apple Activities!

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.  Don't resist them, that only creates sorrow.  Let reality be reality.  Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.  {Lao Tzu}

This year is full of changes.  District, school, and classroom changes.  After five weeks, I did what I like the most...thematic, cross curricular, core lessons!  This just so happens to be stamped with approval by the administration.  That was a breath of fresh air.   This year has been so focused on curriculum guides and gradual release that I amongst many individuals were trying to understand the expectations.  Then I woke up one day and decided I had to just do me!  This past two weeks have  been filled with learning about apples and Johnny Appleseed thanks to five fabulous ladies!

1.  Alisha from The Bubbly Blonde has ALL the background support with A Little Unit on Johnny Appleseed and Apples.  This files is packed full of cross curricular activities!  Below are a few pictures and artifacts from my lessons in which were guided by Alisha's packet!

2. What the Teacher Wants has a fantastic activities for apples with their Your Apple of My Eye post! I downloaded their free labels, the kids tore construction paper to create their diagrams, and glued on the labels.  Prior to their independent activity, we created a chart using Alisha's vocabulary for my labels.  

 

3. Cara from The First Grade Parade created a fantastic pumpkin investigation journal last year.  You should have seen the kids when they saw that Mrs. Carroll created a similar apple investigation journal. I made each investigation a center at one of my teams.  The kids rotated with their pencil box and investigation journal.  While exploring centers, I overheard a group making connections to the sink and float center with the pumpkins last year!  This is the beauty of looping with your students. 

4. I could kick myself for not taking pictures of all my journals.  We have a ton of work from Clever Classroom's Johnny Appleseed Opinion Writing Unit.  You MUST link to read her post and see all the amazing components of this unit!  

5. Sara from First Grader At Last has a file that capped off our two week learning of Johnny Appleseed and Apples with her Apple Tasting Party.  The loot that came through my door made my eyes pop out!  I'm thrilled my kiddos were so excited!

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you've seen some additional pictures!  

There are so many apple activities available on the web.  If you have an apple product {paid or free}, please feel free to link your store or blog in the comments!